School of Social and Political Science

Background

Aniruddha Mahajan (अनिरुद्ध महाजन) is a PhD candidate in South Asian Studies at the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh. His doctoral research examines caste, student activism, and political formations in Indian universities, drawing on ethnographic approaches to study Dalit/Ambedkarite, Left, centrist, and right-wing groups under the contemporary Hindu nationalist regime.

His work is grounded in long-term field engagement in central India and informed by prior involvement in student activism. He has been associated with organisations such as Unite Foundation India and the Jhep Multipurpose Foundation (Maharashtra), where he has conducted action research, worked informally as an educator, and engaged in community-based work in tribal regions. He has also worked and interned across grassroots governance institutions in India, including Panchayat Samiti (block-level council), Zilla Parishad (district-level council), and District Collectorate, gaining experience in policy processes, implementation, and ground-level challenges. In addition, he has been involved in electoral processes as a Political Campaign Organiser in Gram Panchayat (village-level council), Municipal Corporation (municipal-level), and Vidhan Sabha (State Legislative Assembly) elections across central India. 

He has presented his research at leading academic institutions, including the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, LSE, SOAS, and the University of Edinburgh. His writing on caste, politics, and society has appeared in The Scroll, Doing Sociology, Round Table India, and the Society for the Anthropology of Work. He is a Government of India awarded (2016) national-level public speaker and was the founding President of the Ambedkarite Society of Edinburgh (ASE) at the University of Edinburgh (2024-25). He holds degrees from TISS Mumbai and IIT Bombay.

Supervisors

Professor Wilfried Swenden and Dr Hemangini Gupta

Qualifications

2023-till date: PhD in South Asian Studies, The University of Edinburgh 

2023: Masters in Public Policy, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay

2020: MPhil in Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai

2018: Masters in Social Work with specialisation in Community Development, Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University 

2015: BA with Political Science, History, and English Literature, Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University 

Conference Papers and Workshop Presentations 

"Modi-fying Caste on Campus: Student Life under Hindu Nationalist Rule", Anti-Caste Futures Conference, University of Leeds (May 2026) - Upcoming. 

"Education, Caste, and Empire: Scottish Intermediaries and Anti-Caste Mobilisation in Colonial India", Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH), University of Edinburgh (April 2026).

"Digital Counter(re)publics Beyond Slacktivism: Caste-Marked Student Activism under Hindu Majoritarianism in India", Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH), University of Edinburgh (February 2026).

"From Subaltern Counterpublics to Counter(re)publics: Ethnographic Reflections on Caste and Campus Politics after Rohith Vemula", Centre for South Asian Studies Workshop, University of Edinburgh (December 2025). 

"Moral Geographies of the Nation: Caste, Campus Politics, and the Transnational Afterlives of Samagra Hindutva and Ambedkarite Counter(re)publics", Nations, Narratives, and Networks: Rethinking South and Southeast Asia Conference, University of Cambridge (September 2025). 

"After Rohith Vemula: Ethnographies of Caste, Digital Resistance, and Dalit-Bahujan-Ambedkarite Counter(re)publics in Indian Universities", South Asian Anthropologists' Group (SAAG) Workshop, London School of Economics (LSE) (September 2025). 

"When Mayosi Meets Rohith: Fatal Accidents of Belonging and Institutional Necropolitics from Cape Town to Hyderabad", Death in Township Conference, University of Johannesburg (July 2025). 

"Caste, Climate, and Construction Work: Examining Heatwave Vulnerability Among Marginalised Construction Workers in Maharashtra State of India", Paper Development Workshop at the 3rd Global Conference on Caste, Business, and Society, University of Oxford (July 2025).

“Caste and Campus Resistance: Dalit-Bahujan-Ambedkarite Student Activism in Indian Higher Education”, Workshop on Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education, University of Edinburgh (July 2025). 

"Refusing to be Quiet: Dalit Feminist Resistance to Progressive Patriarchy in India's Liberal Universities", Progressive Patriarchs: Manifestation of Patriarchy in Liberal Spaces, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London (June 2025).  

"The Emergence of Subaltern Counterpublics in India: Exploring the Case of Dalit/Ambedkarite Student Activism at Marathwada University", Subalterns in South Asia: 4th International Conference of Indian Association for South Asian Studies (IASAS), Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar (June 2024) 

"Intergenerational Social Mobility Among Dalit  Women", AML National Conference, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Tuljapur (February 2020).

"Intergenerational Social Mobility Among the Dalits and Role of Caste and Gender Interactions", Dr. John Matthai Memorial National Conference, University of Calicut, Kerala (January 2020).

Publications (op-ed articles/public blogs)

"Ethnography under Watch: Field Notes on Student Politics in Indian Universities", Society for the Anthropology of Work (SAW), a section of American Anthropological Association (March 2026).

"Caste across Borders: Ketkar's Prophecy, Ambedkar's Voice, and everyday realities of Indian students in the UK Diaspora", Doing Sociology (November 2025).

"Attack on CJI Gavai: How casteist assertion throws a shoe at fragile constitutional ideals", The Scroll (October 2025).

"Language and Power: What Ambedkar, Periyar, and Gramsci teach us about Maharashtra's Hindi Debate", The Scroll (July 2025). 

"Cricket, Colour, and Caste: South Africa's Equity-Driven WTC Victory and Its Global Implications", Doing Sociology (June 2025). 

"Exploring Ambedkar and Gadge Baba Interaction through Aristotelian Lens", Round Table India (December 2024). 

"Historical Deprivation to Panchayat Leader: The Story of Dalit Women in India", Bodhi Journal, 5(4), (July 2021). 

"In the Name of Honour: Comprehending Honour Killings in India", Critical Edge (September 2020). 

"Comprehending Honour Killings in India", Round Table India (September 2020). 

Research Awards 

College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Research Award (2023).

School of Social and Political Science PhD Scholarship (2023).

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar National Research Fellowship (2018).